'We have to get rid of this virus'-UN ebola mission head

Mr Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is the newly appointed head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response

There are 20,206 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola

Singapore: Mr Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the newly appointed head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), emphasized on the challenge of handling ebola virus and mentioned that the only option is to get rid of the virus.

"This is a global crisis. We definitely have a difficult time ahead of us, but we can achieve it. We have no plan B, we have to get rid of this virus. This is within our reach, but we should not be complacent," he said.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) figures, there are 20,206 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola and 7,905 reported deaths.

"We need to keep going until we don't have even one case, because even one case is too many," he said. "The work ahead remains very hard but we really have no other choice."

According to UNMEER, the three affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have sufficient capacity to isolate and treat 100 percent of confirmed Ebola patients and enough burial teams to ensure safe and dignified burials for 100 percent of all deaths due to Ebola.

Before his new appointment, Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed served as Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).